Chavez in Hiding: Will Not Explain $1M Al Qaeda Financing
In a pattern that closely follows his reaction to 9/11, Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez has gone into hiding rather than face voter outrage over his Al Qaeda connections.
His usual Sunday morning TV-show, Alo Presidente ("Hello President"), did not air. Viewers who expected an explanation of his $1M Al Qaeda support waited impatiently all morning and most of the afternoon, until finally, at 3 PM local time, it was clear that the president was nowhere to be found. The regularly scheduled program, normally a stable feature of Venezuelan TV's Sunday programming, had to be unexpectedly cancelled. It normally features live-in callers asking questions on the air.
" - The Al Qaeda scandal is today's top news in the nations' newspapers. Voters would have demanded answers. Chavez acts like a dictator. But he is really just a coward. And he is afraid of being held democratically accountable for his acts." said opposition leader Enrique Medina Gomez, a general who was part of the Chavez high command but joined the country's resistance movement in protest over Chavez's totalitarian rule and close ties to terrorism.
Chavez, who privately expressed satisfaction over the attacks at the time, allowed his supporters to burn the American flag in a 9/11-celebration in the main square of Caracas, Plaza Bolivar.